Apparatus for curing tobacco



J. C. REYNOLDS.

APPARATUS FOR CURING TOBACCO.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE13. 1921.

1,41 3,783, Patented Apr. 25, 1922 3 SHEETS-SHEET1.

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l z w J. C. REYNOLDS.

APPARATUS FOR CURING TOBACCO.

A APPLICATION FILED JUNE 13, 1921.

Patented Apr. 25, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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J. CLREYNOLDS.

APPARATUS FOR CURING TOBACCO.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 13, I921.

Patented Apr. 25, 1922.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3'.

JOSHUA C. REYNOLDS, OF

OWEN SBORO, KENTUCKY.

APPARATUS FOR CURING TOBACCO.

' Application filed June 13,

To all whom it may ounce-7'72:

Be it known that I, JOsI-IUA C. REYNOLDS, a citizen of the United States, residing at- Owensboro, in the county of Daviess and State of Kentucky, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Curing Tobacco, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to means for ouring tobacco and has for its primary object the provision of an apparatus wh ch may be readily moved from point to point as circumstances may require and by the use of which the exposure of the tobacco to flame will be prevented and the curing of the tobacco accomplished easily with more un1- form results than have been heretofore attained.

In many localities the method employed to cure tobacco consists in kindling a fire in an open pit within an enclosure, upon the ce1ling of which the tobacco has been hung. This method is obviously undesirable as frequently the fire acts directly upon the tobacco and consumes the same and also causes damage to the barn or other enclosure. Moreover, the tobacco is frequently smoked and depreciated in value by this method,

In other places, complicated and expensive machinery has been employed and. it is the object of my invention to provide an appa ratus which will eliminate all the ObJBOtlOIlS of the open 'pit method and willibe less expensive to install than the machinery which has heretofore been employed.

' One embodiment of my invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved apparatus with. a part in section;

Fig. 2 is a rear end elevation of the apparatus; 7

Fig. 3 is a front end elevation with the draft tongue removed;

Fig. 4 is plan view party broken away;

Fig. 5 is a plan View ofthe truck.

In carrying out my invention, I employ a truck consisting of front and rear bolsters 1 and 2 which may conveniently be wooden blocks of proper dimensions. These blocks are secured upon standards or frame members which are formed attheir upper ends with channels or side flanges 3 to receive the lower edges of the blocks, as will. be readily understood upon reference to the drawlngs. The front frame member is shown as con- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 25, 19212. 1921. Serial No. 477,120. 7

sisting of a web 4 depending from the block- IGCQI VIIIg channel and havingits edges converging downwardly, as clearly shown in B 1g. 3. At the lower end of this web at, a disc 5 is formed and the said disc has a for wardly projecting perforated lug or ear 6 on its edge, an eye 7 being formed on the front side of the web to register with the lug 6, as will be readily understood upon reference to Fig. 1. A sleeve 8 is fitted around the front axle 9 at the center of the same and the said sleeve is formed on its upper s de with a disc IObearing against the under side of the disc or plate 5 and provided with a perforated lug or ear 11 adapted to aline axially with the lug or ear 7. The king bolt 18 inserted through the lugs '7 and 11 and is retained therein by a washer and nut on its lower end, as indicated at 13. The members 5 and 10 constitute a fifth wheel to permit angular disposition of the front axle and, therefore, facilitate steering of the truck. The front wheels 14 are mounted upon the ends of the axle 9 and are retained or pole 19 which is equippedlat its forward extremity with a handle 20, of any preferred construction. The channel receiving'the rearbolster 2 is formed on the upper end, of an arch-like web 21 which has its ends formed into sleeves 22 through which passes the rear axle the axle being fixed in the sleeveby rivets or pins, as will be readily understocd.-. The extremities of the axle are ,tapered,"as'

shown at 24, and skeins or bearing sleeves 25 are fitted upon the tapered portion of the axle against a stop collar 26. and retained on the axle by a 111115.27; The skein or bearing; sleeve has the ground wheel 28rotatablyfitted thereon and at theouter end of thefskein is an annularfiange 29 which preventsthe' wheel from moving over the end of the skein.

The front'and rear bolsters are rigidly con nected by bracing members 30 which are rigidly secured at their opposite ends to the. respective-bolsters and converge from their,

ends toward their centers where they are rigidly joined by rivets or similar devices 31. A very strong and inexpensive truck is thus produced which may be readily moved from point to point so that the apparatus mounted upon the truck may be used wherever desired.

The apparatus comprises a tank or reservoir 32 which will preferably be of seamless construction as it is to contain kerosene or other hydrocarbon and should be airtight so as to prevent excessive evaporation or leakage and to prevent the entrance of air except such as may be forced thereinto in the use of theapparatus, as will presently appear. This tank or reservoir is preferably of the elongated form illustrated in the drawings and it is secured upon the truck by bands 33 passed around thetank near the ends thereof and brought close together heneath the tank, as shown in 2 and 3 at 34, the ends of the bands being then carried sharply outwardly to rest upon and be secured to the bolsters, as shown at 35. A fastening bolt 86 is inserted through the adjacent portions of the band. and it will be readily noted that the spaced arrangement of the portions of the bands through which the bolts pass permits the banos to be drawn very tightly around the tank so that it will be firmly secured to the truck. The blocks constituting the body of the truck are firmly secured to the supporting channel members by bolts inserted vertically through all the members and these bolts are also utilized to secure the ends of the straps or bands to the bolsters. Lag screws may be also employed to further secure the ends of the bands to the bolsters, and bolts inserted transversely through the bolsters secure the ends of the braces 30 thereto. The tank 32 is provided at one end with a filling spout 37 and at any convenient point on its upper side is equipped with a pressure gage 38. An air admission valve 39 is also provided upon the tank and this valve may be of any well-known make. The inflation valve'employed upon pneumatic tires will answer every purpose and as the particular construction of this valve does not form a part of my present invention. I have illustrated the same in a conventional manner only. In the use of the device, air is forced into the tank so as to-be compressed to any desired degree, the reaching of which will berdetermined by the reading of the pressure gage and the pressure ofthe air upon the hydrocarbon liquid within the tank will force the same to the burner above the tank and also aid in vaporizing the fuel. The burner consists of a; spraying nozzle 40 fitted in the lower end of a coil 41 and. provided with a flattened extremity 42 whereby it 'may be readily engaged with a wrench or other turning tool when being fitted in the end of the coil, The coilis disposed verti cally and is fed by a pipe 43 which is connected with an outlet pipe id by a T-coupling as. A. plug l6 is removably lit-ted in the outer end of the T-coupling so that access may be-rcadily had to the same and to the pipe 4-3 when cleaning thereof may be clesirable. The outlet pipe l i leads upwardly from the tank 32 and a cut=olf valve 47, which is preferably a needle valve, is interposed in the said pipe between the tank and the feed pipe 413. An initial ignition pan i8 is mounted on the top of the tank immediately below the burner and is adapted to contain a small supply of the fuel which may be ignited to effect preliminary heating of the coil before igniting the fuel at the burner. When this initial supply of. fuel has been consumed, the coil will be heated so that the fuel flowing therethrough to the burner will be rapidly and thoroughly vaporized and proper combustion will occur at the burner.

The coil and burner are disposed within a downwardly tapered drum or casing t9, the pipe d3 extending through the front end of said casing as clearly shown. The top and bottom of this casing or drum are open so that air may readily flow to the burner and the heated air readily escape through the top of the casing or drum. The casing or drum is supported over the tank by. standards or posts 50 at its ends and at its sides, the end standards or posts having their lower ends fitted in sockets 51 on the tank and their upper ends fitted in'sockets 52 on the ends of the drum or casing, while the side posts or standards have their ends inserted through sockets 53 and 54 011 the sides of the tank and thc'drum respectively and equipped with lock nuts 54 whereby they may be readily placed under the proper tension and the drum or casing. firmly supported. Disposed over the drum and supported therefrom in spaced relation thereto by brackets 55 is a hood or cover 56which is imperforate and effectually prevents flame from the burner rising through the top of.

the apparatus to act directly upon the tobacco to the detriment thereof. The open space between the opposed edges of-the hood and the drum will, however, permit. free circulation of air and escape of the heated air from the drum tocirculate around and about the tobacco.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying.draw-.

ings, it will be seen that I haveprovided a very simple portable apparatus whereby a high degree of heat-may be readily generated and permittedto circulate through the tobacco to be curedso that the tobacco will be readily and quickly brought'into the proper marketable condition. The- 'apparatus may, of course,be made in various. sizes and slight experlence wlll enable the user to determine how long the flame at the burner will be maintained, by a reading of the pressure gage inasmuch as the pressure originally established in the tank will be that necessary to feed the fuel to the burner for a predetermined period at a given rate and as the pressure falls, the indications upon the pressure gage will by a process of elimination, show how much fuel is left in the tank and how long it will supply the burner.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. An apparatus for the purpose set forth comprising a portable tank, sockets on the sides of the tank, sockets on top of the tank near the ends of the same, a downwardly tapered drum arranged above the tank in spaced relation thereto and having open upper and lower ends, sockets on the sides and ends of the drum, posts having their lower ends secured in the sockets on the sides and top of the tank and their upper ends secured in sockets on the sides and ends of the drum respectively, a burner in the open lower end of the drum,and a fuel pipe leadtank in spaced relation thereto and having open upper and lower ends, a burner in the open lower end of the drum, a fuel pipe leading from the tank a to the burner,

brackets rising from the upper edge of the drum, and an arched hood carried by said brackets with its lower edge spaced above the upper edge of the drum.

3. An apparatus for the purpose set forth comprising a portable tank, a downwardly tapered drum supported by and above the tank in spaced relation thereto and having open upper and lower ends, a burner in the open lower end of the drum, a fuel pipe leading from the tank to the burner, and an arched hood carried by the upper end of the drum with an outlet at the juncture of the drum and the hood.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

J OSHUA, C. REYNOLDS. [11. s.] 

